The document discusses branding essence and strategic branding services. It emphasizes rethinking and renovating brands to capture emotional brand essence. It outlines seven core values of branding including brand imagery, product positioning, and defining brand essence. It discusses delivering actionable solutions through proprietary models and analyzing brands. The document promotes helping clients accelerate growth profitably through brand renovation.

1. Missing The One Piece of Your Puzzle?

2. INVOKING A STRATEGIC
BRANDING ESSENCE
We Can Re-Think & Renovate Brand Essence
Our client’s top management, employees, customers, and if
applicable the shareholders must engage the future value-driven
brand essence of their product, corporate identity, and strategic
positioning to compete in the new global brand-driven economy.
Ensuring our client’s with synergistic business opportunities and
internal confidence barometers combined with new market
channel diversification that is designed to embrace the
emotional brand essence with complete confidence to gain real growth,
business efficiencies, and lifetime customer loyalty.

3. THE CORE VALUES
OF BRANDING ESSENCE
Our Expertise is a Practice Focused on the
Seven Core Values of Branding Essence
 Brand Imagery and Corporate Identity Platform Development
 Brand Management and Product Brand Positioning - NOVOTRIX²
 Forensic & Holistic Product, and Corporate Brand Identity Positioning
 Renovate New Product Brand Essence Connections Through Winning
Strategy and Design Platforms
 Define and Deliver Value-driven Brand Essence by Integrating BMG’s “4D-
16 P’s” Customized NOVOLOCITY² Ideation Model
 Define and Renovate the Client’s Brand/Corporate Identity, Position,
Segmentation, Personality and Competitive Experience through NOVOARTIS²
Interactive Creative Growth Strategies
 Empower the Consumer Acquisition and Retention Challenge by Employing
the Tactical NOVOGRIDZ²tm Consumer Insight Model

4. THE CORE DELIVERABLES
OF BRANDING ESSENCE
We Can Deliver Actionable Solutions Through
Our Practical Experience and Proprietary 4-D
NOVOTRIX² Forensic Approach Model.
 Analysis, Content Development and Contribution to Thought Leadership
 Support Delivery Against Each Element of Brand Strategy Methodology
 Destination Planning
 Situation Assessment
 Hypotheses Development
 Research Design & Planning, Brand Architecture & Positioning Development
 Marketing and Brand Plan Development
 Developing Strategic Framework and Methodologies
“NOVO”: means to make anew, refresh, revive, change, alter and invent.

5. BRANDING↔RE-THINK IT.
RENOVATE
IT.
We Can Help Companies Accelerate Growth
Profitably
 We can accelerate your growth by never losing sight of your customer’s
emotional needs, desires and hopes.
 We can customize and transform your marketing to help you maximize your
return-on-brand investment.
 We can lead, assist, or even integrate with your business team to help manage
your marketing and sales activities. Measure our success by your success.
 We can help you re-think your business legacy and renovate your brand
architecture.
 We can empower your business by leveraging your core brand essence,
managing your company’s reputation and image.
 We can help you leave your past behind and to stay ahead of the pack with us as we are
not afraid to break the mold.

6. RETURN-ON-BRAND
INVESTMENT tm
Measuring the Return-on-Brand Investment
 A brand equates to more than a promise to communicate a
compelling and powerful emotional message that the consumer
will recognize, hear and ultimately respect.
 The company’s identity can become a powerful asset and a
marketing tool when properly managed and executed.
 The strategic design must act as an appealing and emotional
visual engagement for today’s consumer-centric global
environment.
 It is imperative that your brand capture both the consumer’s
eye, and perhaps more importantly, their heart.
 Brand renovation isn’t everything-it’s the only thing.

7. HOLISTIC BRANDING
Holistic Branding Pieces Can Be Designed To Fit Even the Most
Difficult Puzzles
Today’s traditional brand and packaging creation process is being replaced by
theories of holistic branding through our four-dimensional 4P matrix.
Within the concepts of modern branding, the brand symbol, or logo, should
convey the core values and the essence of the Brand. The brand’s spirit is a type
of visual shorthand transformed through BMG’s proprietary NOVOTRIX² and
ROBI tm Model.

8. BRANDING ESSENCE
OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE
 The Mobile Brand is here to Stay. The e-world today
continues to be mobile through the use of hand held
devices, the Internet and wireless communications. Today’s
brand essence opportunity is reaching beyond the traditional
scope of marketing and branding strategies. The consumer
audience is changing with its own limitations and challenges.
Today’s digital Web community is only the beginning of
brand imagery and design excitement.
 Thinking Differently for the Long-term. The spend-now
investment thinking in the corporate brand and its eventual
brand equity meltdown will continue to reflect and plague
some of today’s top-selling brands. The brand launch
explosion and its no-predictable fallout will not be tolerated
in today’s new global and wireless brand economy. Building
successful brand strategy with ROBItm requires the
endurance and stamina of a world class marathoner, not the
sprinter’s speed. Brand consistency will always win in the
race for building brand dominance.

9. BRANDING ESSENCE
OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE
 Your Product is Not Alone in the Race. Tactical Brand
Renovation by Reinvention is How to Win the Race.
Technology is changing the way new services, businesses and
strategic alliances evolve and not only by invention. The
Internet is creating a constant stream of ongoing renovation
requiring today’s companies to stay the course of the brand
essence evolution. The “re-think” brand identity practice is the
result of the technology revolution and the need for a
constant brand evolution identity. What worked yesterday, or
even today, will have to be adapted within a chameleon brand
legacy to communicate unique messaging systems to today’s
consumer needs and lifestyle changes.
 Marketing is Comatose! Long Live the Brand. Today’s
Marketing, Advertising, Marketing Communications and Public
Relation departments and firms need Strategic Brand Imagery
and Design experts. The speed to market is very important
but can be deadly if the brand does not stay fresh by
delivering a well planned and strong brand essence
messaging proposition and promise to keep the customer
involved through the brand evolution process.

10. BRANDING ESSENCE
OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE
 Spending Huge Buckets of Marketing Money Will Not
Save a Weak Brand. Again, a strong brand proposition by
differentiation will contribute the essential speed required to
market a long-term multi-directional value through the ROBItm.
The new global and wireless economy must be linked
between the brand essence messaging promise and the
consumer needs and lifestyle changes.
 The Branding Expert Delivers and Keeps the Brand
Proposition Promise. Through today’s traditional and more
important rapid interactive Internet medium environment,
today’s Strategic Brand Imagery and Design expert should
deliver renovation, brand promise, strategic essence message
and brand endurance through one of our proprietary models;
NOVOTRIX²tm Strategic Brand Architecture tm and
NOVOGRIDZ² tm Modeling Systems.

11. STRATEGIC RESPONSE
CHARACTERISTICS
An increasingly diverse technological context results in a wider
range of media possibilities with which to exceed the client's
expectations and to meet the needs of their consumer
audiences.
 Vision / Message +
 Internal Audit / Research +
 Re-think / Renovate +
 Expertise / Perception +
 Strategy / Execution +
 Planning / Deliverables +
 Management / Adapt +
 Creativity / Re-invent +
 Interactive / Integration
NOVOTRIX²tm / NOVOGRIDZ²tm / NOVOARTIS²tm / NOVOLOCITY²tm /
16P’s + NOVOPODZtm = BRANDING TRANSFERENCE

12. THE ROAD TO
BRANDING HARMONY
Every business organization has its own special
history and culture, so brand harmonization will also be
particular to each organization. Each client must find its
own comfortable balance between a monolithic global
presence and local individuality.
Some branding solutions need time to evolve at a pace
consistent with the market response, including;
(1) Assess the situation with our proven Return-on-Brand-
Investmenttm model
(2) Develop through forensics a brand essence strategy platform
(3) Create a new branding system architecture
(4) Champion the brand system internally
(5) Implement the new branding system externally

13. CORPORATE & PRODUCT
BRAND IDENTITY SERVICES
Corporate identity is more than just identifying a business,
product or service. Corporate identity is an endorsement of
the brand and corporate values and is evident in every
aspect of the brand experience. Branding is more than an
invaluable communications tool, internally and externally,
it is because the brand must cut across language and
cultural barriers. Our expertise and client service
deliverables include:
 Providing the strategic capability to help build brand equity
 New product development and ideation
 Global brand imagery and product essence design architecture
 Brand and corporate identity architecture
 Graphic and structural package design
 Merchandising, promotional, brand alliances program development

14. CORPORATE & PRODUCT
BRAND IDENTITY SERVICES
 Help build customer loyalty through our customer relationship
marketing modeling practice
 Institute that a brand is a promise to communicate a strong
compelling and powerful message that the consumer will
recognize, hear and ultimately respect
 Restore a company's identity to become a powerful asset and
marketing tool when properly managed and executed
 Help empower the strategic design to act as an appealing and
emotional visual engagement to today's intuitive consumer
environment
 Capture the essential importance that your product's packaging
attract the consumer's eye, and perhaps more importantly,
their heart
 Provide the client with the tools to win battles within the new
economy using novo-modern branding concepts

15. THE HERO & THE OUTLAW
vs. NOVOTRIX²
The Hero & The Outlaw vs. NOVOTRIX²
Building Extraordinary Brands Brand Transference Through a Fusion
Through the Power of Archetypes of Customized Holistic Archetypes
Management of Meaning/ Brand Attributes/ Brand Relevance
Desire, Goal, Strategy, Fear, Trap, Gift Brand Relevance/ Brand Territory
Emotion
“The Innocent” “Reward” “Hero”
“The Explorer” “Invincible” “Warrior”
“The Sage” “Confident” “Champion”
“The Hero” “Bold” “Superstar”
“The Outlaw” “Smart” “Gambler”
“The Magician” “Heritage” “Explorer”
“The Regular Guy/Gal” “Reliability” “Pioneer”
“The Lover” “Trust” “Conqueror”
“The Jester”
“The Caregiver” NOVOTRIX²tm / NOVOLOCITY²tm
“The Creator” NOVOGRIDZ²tm / NOVOARTIS²tm
“The Ruler” 16P’s + NOVOPODZtm =
BRANDING TRANSFERENCE

16. BRANDING INTELLIGENCE
& CONSUMER INSIGHT
Consumer Insight Through Branding Intelligence
The BlackMarlin Group supports client research
needs throughout the product development process,
from initial concept screening through management’s
restaging of established brands. At any point along the way,
the NOVOTRIX² system can evaluate initiatives for their
volume potential and strength relative to other products in the
competitive global brand-driven environment.

17. CONSUMER/MARKET
INTELLIGENCE & INSIGHT
Business Intelligence Solutions
Treat information as the main strategic advantage. Assume that there is always more to know about your
business.
Professional Ideation
Designed and carried out to deliberately generate a large number of relevant ideas and core concepts
against specific objectives
Concept Development
Moving promising core ideas to more fully developed concepts is a critical step.
Concept Research
With the knowledge and methodologies that are available today, spending time and money developing new
products and services from the wrong concepts is inexcusable!
Concept Communications
It's important to make sure that concepts are indeed communicating what is intended before quantitative
testing.
Concept Screening
Successful marketers and branding specialist agree on the wisdom of pushing a number of core concepts
through early-stage screening.

18. CONSUMER/MARKET
INTELLIGENCE & INSIGHT
Concept Testing
Fused concept testing is used with more finished concepts as often as possible as consumers are accustomed
to production quality.
Concept Optimization
Conjoint and discrete choice concept optimization methods are used to discover the optimum combination of
factor alternatives, including names, features, benefits, positioning, and prices-alone and against competitive
sets.
Product Research
More often than not, longer-term profitable businesses are driven by continued favorable user experience with
the product itself.
Sensory Testing
Early stage sensory research is the critical base on which all subsequent development is founded for new
products, product improvements and extensions.
Tracking Research
Tracking research has evolved far beyond just providing historical data.
Application Research
Application tracking services cover many different types of assignments; (1) full category continuous tracking,
(2) point-in-time measurement of new product rollout, (3) evaluating alternative in-market advertising
treatments, (4) monitoring customer satisfaction to support total quality programs Analysis / models, (5) brand
switching models, (6) early trend detection, (7) time series forecasting models, (8) critical users profiling, (9)
attribute importance weighting, and (10) segmentation scoring.

19. CONSUMER/MARKET
INTELLIGENCE & INSIGHT
Client Data Bases
Original tracking data and various summary reports can be custom developed as fixed data bases for the
convenient use of client personnel. including: (1) on-line access, (2) third party assisted systems, (3) linkage
to other client maintained data bases, and (4) data format transfer programs.
Advertising Research
Building a brand oriented knowledge base on how the respondent to the communications themselves is
emerging as the key goal of advertising research.
Developmental / Exploratory Research
Ideation services generate consumer based core concepts for advertising strategies, themes and positioning.
Early stage learning is available for creative development of test advertising using qualitative techniques,
including; (1) focus groups, (2) mini groups and (3) one-on-ones
Print Testing
Custom designed quantitative studies provide relevant and meaningful measures of the effectiveness of print
advertisements. Sensitive analysis is supported by unique statistical design approaches including;
(1) clutter test, (2) folio tests, (3) sequential pairs and (4) magazine inserts/tip-ins.
Commercial Testing
These services include the design and execution of custom testing for TV commercials in any form, including;
(1) animatics, (2) photomatics and (3) semi- or fully finished.
Strategic Research & Consulting
Strategy has been called the art and science of devising and employing plans toward a goal.

20. THE MOBILE AGENCY
INTERACTIVE TRENDS
The Future is Now. The Mobile Agency.
 Over the last 12 months there has been an increasing demand for
much more sophisticated mobile marketing and brand solutions.
 Offer strategy, creative and campaign management platforms for
mobile campaigns that use both text and multimedia elements.
 Significant growth is projected in the next five years.
 According to ABI Research, mobile ad spending will rise from $3 billion
this year to $19 billion in 2011.
 The U.S. is behind globally, but if you look at the emergence of WiFi,
there are quite a few emerging opportunities in this space.
 Hollywood and the Internet (Google) have joined to promote the
upcoming summer film The Bourne Ultimatum and at the same time
tout several of Google's products to moviegoers. They know their
users like entertainment content.

21. THE MOBILE AGENCY
INTERACTIVE TRENDS
 Will the launch of Apple's iPhone spur the growth of mobile applications beyond
phone calls and texting?
 A recent study revealed that just 5 percent of mobile device owners use their
handhelds to view video clips.
 Opportunity to target the mainstream mass to crate innovative execution to
take the lead to gain creditability and user mindshare through interactive brand
strategy platforms.
 23 percent said they didn't mind seeing ads in games.
 21 percent felt the use of brands makes some games more realistic.
 The blog, message board and other media tools, consumers have ushered in the
age of citizen journalism.

22. THE MOBILE AGENCY
INTERACTIVE TRENDS
 The social media press release is becoming an accepted from of interactive
brand marketing.
 Apple's publicity run-up to the launch of the iPhone is another strategic
interactive brand template to gain $100’s of millions of free media.
 Need to create a good one-word name since “social media press release" is
too long-winded as the industry standard.
 The 60-second in-cinema advertising spot is designed for a very captive
audience and a zip code mapping footprint.
 Mobile products based on the series will be offered through a single brand
subscription dubbed the Yellow Plan, the first mobile subscription plan built
around one brand . (The Simpson’s)
 The Mobile Advertising Studio - ADMOB. When users click on the ads, they are
delivered to mobile web pages to locate theaters where the respective movie
is playing as well as show times.

23. THE MOBILE AGENCY
INTERACTIVE BRAND MISSION
Make the Consumer Feel in Control
1. Consumer Preference is a Sovereign Right. Consumers are protective of
their phones and rightly so. They must be able to engage and disengage at
will, by any means. Advertisers who do not honor consumer preferences will
get banished.
2. Great Brand Marketing is a Service. Mobile brand marketing can provide
valuable services to customers, e.g., an SMS alerting price increases or
discounts, or an MMS (multimedia message) to help complete tasks, like
cooking a meal from products purchased at the marketer’s store. These
services can inspire customer loyalty.
3. Personalization is Critical. Customers may respond to a mobile
marketing campaign one time, out of novelty. To achieve consistent
results, however, requires personalizing the message - leading to
increased customer transactions.
4. Relationships Drive Transactions. In contrast to marketing via other
media, mobile campaigns may not generate immediate transaction spikes.
Rather, developing engaging relationships with customers leads to a greater
number of transactions over time.

24. THE MOBILE AGENCY
BRANDING VALUES
Today, the growth of interactive marketing—especially the Mobile
Platform — highlights how much success depends on developing
relationships between brands and customer values.
1) Provide their customers with valuable services;
2) Personalized for each customer;
3) Delivered in a way that respects customer wishes.
Key Client Message:
“How urgently should I launch a mobile initiative?” The answer: If your customer
succeeds in engaging your customer before you, then your job becomes much
harder, if not impossible.

25. THE MOBILE AGENCY
INTERACTIVE PROMISE
 We must encourage our clients to understand which customer types create real
value.
 Discount-driven customers are not profitable in the long run.
 Customers with brand loyalty generate 70% of the margin.
Note - valuable customers only welcome mobile messages that are
relationship-driven.
 Other communications to their mobiles get ignored.
 Advertising is about the sizzle, not the steak. As companies plan a mobile
brand marketing strategy, they would be wise to integrate with the traditional
advertising sizzle.
 While TV and radio excel in delivering an enticing brand promise, the mobile
platform is uniquely positioned to transform the brand promise into a concrete
reality.
 The New Mobile Agency must become a leading voice and mobile brand
messaging company dedicated to meet the challenges and objectives of the
retailing industry opportunity.

26. INDUSTRIES WE SERVE
Apparel Home/Hardware
Automotive Home/Office
Chemicals Home/Office Accessories
Communications Industrial Maintenance
Computer Accessories Industrial Equipment
Insurance Consulting Consumer Packaged Goods
Internet Service Provider Marine
Consumer Electronics One-Time Use Cameras
OEM Distribution
Party and Gift B 2 B, B2 B 2 C
Ad Specialties E-Tailing
Retailers Electrical Maintenance
Security Products Financial Services
Specialty Chemicals Food Products/Food Service
Software Gaming Home Electrical Products

27. AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Advertising, Branding, Product, Merchandising &
Interactive Achievements
 The Clio Award for New Product Packaging & Design- 1982
 Award of Excellence for Merchandising NOPA- 1991, 1992, 1993
 Award for New Product Packaging& Design- 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
 Award of Distinction DIY Retailing- Marketing of Innovative New Products- 1987, 1988
 The CES Design & Engineering Product Innovations Award- 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
 Silver Microphone Award- National Winner 1988
 Who’s Who in American Business- 1988, 1989
 Silver Tower Award Product Packaging and Innovation- 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003,
2004, 2005
 Silver Aster Award- Branding & Marketing Healthcare Internet- 2005, 2006

28. SELECT CLIENT LIST
Consumer Goods:
Kraft Foods, Glenview, IL Sara Lee Household Products, Philadelphia, PA
Oscar Mayer, Madison, WI General Foods Group, White Plaines, NY
Kodak, Rochester, NY Targus Group International, New York, NY
Bell Capital, Atlanta, GA Viacom Consumer Products, Hollywood, CA
Intermatic,Inc. Spring Grove, IL Falcon Safety Products, Branchburg, NJ
Fellowes, Inc., Itasca, IL Berryman Products, Inc., Arlington, TX
TEEM Impressions, Elk Grove Village, IL Fellowes, Inc., Itasca, IL
Yamaha Marine Group, Los Angeles, CA Curtis-Esselte, Salt Lake City, UT
CameraWrapz, Highland Park, IL Turtle Wax, Inc., Bedford Park, IL
ACCO Brands, Inc., Lincolnshire, IL Kensington Technology, San Mateo, CA
Vienna Beef, Inc., Chicago, IL Digital Innovations, Inc., Evanston, IL
Technology & Medical:
Prodigy Communications, Austin, TX Flashnet Communications, Ft. Worth, TX
Flashnet Marketing, Inc. Ft. Worth, TX NeonTechnology, Milpitas, CA
greatdeals.com, Northbrook, IL universal.com, Northbrook, IL
AP, Libertyville, IL Laser Aesthetics of Texas, Dallas, TX
Retail:
Linda Evans Fitness, San Ramon,CA
Born Beautiful, Northbrook, IL TeachSmart Superstores, Arlington, TX
Alliances:
Wallace Church, New York, NY Price Marketing Group, Evanston, IL
© 1996-2007 BLACKMARLIN GROUP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

29. A GREAT IDEA
AT THE RIGHT TIME.